Hymn of the Day
When I look in my wretched heart,
And there my nature see;
This is my hope, this is my joy,
That Jesus lived for me.
When I behold God's Holy law,
And there my sentence see;
This is my hope, this is my joy,
That Jesus died for me.
When I see how my days are mixed,
With joy and misery;
This is my hope, this is my joy,
That Jesus rules for me.
And when I ponder on my life,
How swift its end must be!
This is my hope, this is my joy,
That Jesus lives for me.
When I look out upon this world,
And there God's judgement see;
This is my hope, this is my joy,
That Jesus comes for me.
And when I stand before God's throne,
To hear His just decree;
This still my hope and joy shall be,
Jesus sits there for me!
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Today’s Hymns
O God, Our Help in Ages Past - #10
And Can It Be? – cb7
There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood - #222
Special Dates:
Bob & Nancy – 12
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For I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. -1 Corinthians 2:2
So, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,
and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory. -1 Corinthians 15:54
I doubt if there is a word in our English language that scares us more than this word Death. But Death is as natural a part of living as breathing. All who are now living are marked as Death’s inevitable prey. Death is the result of sin, and we have all sinned. Sin gives Death its sting. Death is not satisfied and will not be until the Lord comes, and then it will be “swallowed up in victory.”
This word “swallowed” is used to show us that when it is done, it will be as though Death never existed. It is lost and gone. Not just out of sight but lost forever. That will be the triumphant victory of the Messiah.
Man was created upright, and lived in paradise, until by sin, he brought Death into the world. Since then, Death has reigned by sin. But the Lord Jesus Christ came to make an end of sin, to destroy Death, and him that has the power of it. He has come to repair every damage done by sin and remove every misery. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."
The fruits of His work are confined to the believers. Those “in Adam shall all die,” and those in Christ “shall all be made alive.” The “all”, who in Christ “shall be made alive”, are those who, by faith in Him, are delivered from the sting of Death, which is sin.
In spite of what the Scriptures declare, we think that everybody goes to Heaven when they die. This is saying that sin is not as bad as it is. This is saying that God’s justice is flexible. This is saying that God does not mean what He says. We know there is a Hell, but it is only for the real bad ones. The only ones who go to Hell are the ones that we do not like. There is a “second death” which will not hurt the believer in Christ but will swallow up those not in Christ.
If you reject the Gospel, the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, there remains “no more sacrifice for sin.” But those who look to Christ shall be saved with an everlasting salvation and will one day sing the words of our text, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” -Milton Howard
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Wherefore he is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
-Hebrews 7.25
"Able to save" means something more than just delivering men from hell. "Able to save" is the whole work of salvation from the first conviction of sin to complete glorification. Christ is not only able to save" those who REPENT, but He is able to make men repent. Christ is not only "able to save" those who BELIEVE, but He is able to give a new heart and work faith in men. Christ is not only "able to save" those who CONTINUE IN THE FAITH, but He is able to keep us from falling and give us a holy desire to be like Him. -Henry Mahan
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It was enough to condemn the idols of Israel that they were new gods, newly set up; and it is enough to condemn the gospels of the hour that they are such as were never heard of in the golden ages of the church. “The old is better.” Yet it is strange, but true, that the way to heaven is in Scripture called the “new” way; the “new and living way” — that is to say, Christ’s blood: for when Christ came, men began to understand the way of salvation more clearly, and it came to them with a freshness of power which the old ceremonial law knew nothing of. The incarnate Savior, by his death, has opened a new and living way to the secret pavilion of God. We want nothing newer than the opened way which is made by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. -C.H. Spurgeon